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BEING A LETTER ADDRESSED BY 
CAPTAIN 3IAXSE, R.N., TO THE '•MORNING POST" 
UPON THE SUBJECT 
OF OUR AMERICAN ATTITUDE, 



\JReprinted for further circulation.] 



LONDON : 

CHAPMAN AND HALL, 193, PICCADILLY. 

1863. 



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PRO P ATRIA. 



To the Editor of the "Morning Post." 

Sir, — Our present attitude towards America involves so 
important a crisis that I trust you will allow me, through 
your columns, to invoke public attention to its gravity, and 
to a re-consideration of the apathetic policy we now so 
complacently watch. In doing this, a slight prelude may be 
necessary upon our relations in the Old World. If my views 
seem presumptuous, their motive, at least, entitles them to an 
indulgent hearing. 

The watchword of England among nations is "peace." 
The keen, ardent pulse of our growth and our prime has 
fallen to the milder throb of quiescence and passivity. 
Looking upon Europe as our parish, we still mingle — and 
garrulously — amid the affairs of our neighbours ; not without 
influence, for here we have lived the long national career that 
makes us respected. One nation, the traditional foe of our 
youth, has perhaps alone the power to summon the old active 
wrath that made us great. Sensitive only to her, jealous yet 
of her power, prompt to thwart by word, and by no means 
averse to weapon, we still front France with implacable dis- 
trust, and with smouldering enmity. A man marvellously 
beyond his epoch has persistently ignored this, and preserved 
peace between the two nations, in spite of insult, vilification, 
and every provocative of war. Through panic, through 
contumely, through every moral aggression, Louis Napoleon 
has yet forborne to resent, and has now by dint of imper- 
turbable amity, half-disarmed our jealousy, and materially 
calmed our rivalry. But any important action of France in 
Europe would swiftly arouse the deadly instinct, and we 
would with collective judgment cheerfully accept a war to 
restrain French ascendency, or preserve what we know as 
Balance of Power. Save and except this, we repose in 
passivity, abjure conquest, surrender possessions, and shrink 
from all responsibility involving a consequence. We will be 



4 



still at all price, have peace at any sacrifice, so long as that 
sacrifice be not made to France. The last volunteer would 
quit the shores of England rather than cede Heligoland to 
this power, but Canada we would present to the Americans. 
On the one hand, we scout the man who exclaims, " Perish 
Savoy!" are horrified at the occupation of Eome; on the 
other hand, we counsel the decease of Hungary, Servia, and 
Montenegro, and are placidly resigned to that of Poland and 
Venice. We enact the role of a great power solely among 
the lesser and weaker nations, and modify our tone in precise 
proportion to the expediency. Our war with Eussia forms no 
contradiction to this rule. We temporised and we drifted. 
There is 'already a large party, headed by a fanatical historian, 
to deplore its impolicy. The part we have played during 
recent foreign junctures has afforded a sufficiently ignominious 
spectacle. Not daring to initiate a decisive policy ourselves, 
we have either bickered with that of France, or, emboldened 
to share it, have strictly confined our advance to the stage 
exempt from result. There is a worse phase, wherein England 
is content to slink behind France with the policy she herself 
dreads to avow or enact. It has become quite common now 
to hear Englishmen calm their uneasiness upon some threat- 
ening foreign event by declaring that " the Emperor will not 
permit this." In Mexico we are to be found covertly 
applauding the very action we in public denounced. 

Such, sir, is the tendency of the day, inaugurated by no 
sudden volition, directed by no special clique, but steadily 
evinced by the greater portion of the public. Accompanying 
this strange abdication of rank, in this sublime divestment of 
empire, there is no thought of heritage from our fathers, or of 
forfeited trust to our children. We of the day loathe war, 
and contemplate — Belgium. Surely this picture of a great 
nation flying her own greatness marks some strange turning- 
point in her career, and would seem to herald an insignificant 
future. The vitality hungering for conquest gone, may be 
well considered to indicate maturity ; but when the current 
of life refuses to warm the whole frame, and resolves slug- 
gishly to the heart, there is ground for anticipating danger to 
the entire national fabric. 

This dismemberment of empire is, however remote, ;fey the 
side of the imminent subject I seek to address you : on. 
There are signs and instincts of a coming time that will 
swiftly carry this question out of the hands of closet patriots 
and local politicians. I merely remark it as a featufe sadly 
characteristic of the prevalent torpor and renunciatory spirit. 



5 



What England does in Europe, or what visions the teacher 
may utter from academical groves of Oxford, become empty 
and frivolous compared with the irreparable and prodigious 
results impending from our attitude in America. Even the 
French Kevolution, with its mighty surge and conflict of 
problems, presented England with no question equal to the 
single one now put amid reverberating battle — Dominion or 
Equality. A question not merely concerning those who with 
their life's blood are defending this last sacred cause, but a 
challenge equally flung, and with an import not less vital, 
to the nations watching around, and especially to her who, 
with folded arms and numbed action, stands, than all, more 
scrupulously aside. The battle being fought, carries with it 
not only dominion in America, but dominion in the world — 
not only restoration of the Eepublic, but dictatorship of 
democracy — not only extermination of the South, but pro- 
spective subjugation of other peoples, and deadly assault of 
England. 

The war of the Southern Confederacy I unhesitatingly 
assert to be the war of England ; and believe our prompt 
recognition of this Power to be no mere question of expedi- 
ency, but to be one of national necessity. I say this with no 
pretence to political foresight, but with strong faith in 
national instinct The instinct of America to war with 
- England amounts almost to a mission ; so it has been from 
the nation's birth. We have repayed this with an amount 
of forbearance and submission not far removed from an 
instinct of fear. Apart, however, from natural tendency, I 
would ask upon what ground the foreign policy of England, 
as applied in the Old World, finds itself reversed in the 
New ? In Europe, our system of policy is one avowedly 
jealous ; in America, it is regulated upon principles of the 
highest moderation — alike generous and meek. Take the 
present American contest. It is said it would be unfair to 
avail ourselves of the disaster of a nation to promote English 
interests. This is what is " said," but no doubt Eederal 
menace has much to do with the view ; yet the plea for 
passivity simply stultifies the whole of our past history ; the 
very ABC of English diplomacy is " equilibrium of power 
and this in Europe has operated in a manner hitherto im- 
passive and relentless. The cry of nationality, the protest of 
civilisation, the impulse of the age, even the project of 
science,* sink to the leaden behest of England — leaden, by 

* I allude to our obstruction to the Suez canal. 



6 



the abandonment of outline for the pursuit of detail, by 
narrowness of application, by obsolete rivalry. 

In a moderate sense there can be no more valuable doctrine 
to mankind than that of equality among nations ; yet, while 
perniciously straining this desideratum in Europe, we refuse 
to apply it in America, though confessing the inestimable 
benefit such application would be to the world at large, and to 
the combatants concerned. The magnanimity is surely sus- 
picious that declines to approach a disaster where interruption 
is a boon. Some other motive must be sought A large 
class deprecate all action as being probable to excite impu- 
tation of this. But I would inquire, first, whether England's 
conduct could possibly be attributed to worse motives than 
those now accredited ; and, secondly, whether a fear of this 
result, inevitable under all circumstances, can excuse a great 
nation for evading an obligation of position and an impera- 
tive self-duty. No, sir, these are no motives ; they are but 
the pretexts for indulging the modern mood of inertia and 
abjuration of power. The grand old English ship with dumb 
ports drifts through political seas under no higher guidance 
than an abhorrence of war combined with a fatal recourse to 
the expediency of the moment. Postponing the present cloud, 
she floats blindfold towards the very heart of the future storm. 
Eejecting a powerful ally upon the mere score of tradition, 
she remains insensible to the new and far more perilous foe, 
and determines isolation in the face of whatsoever threatening 
coalition. Punch has accurately, though unwittingly, cari- 
catured the elusive course that marks our present career. The 
artist and public generally perceived in the sketch of " Modern 
Ulysses " much skilful pilotage among perilous rocks, but to 
an unbiassed mind it bore strong resemblance to ignominious 
flight. It were fitter for the English ship to anchor and defy. 

Leaving metaphor aside, I entreat public opinion to con- 
sider the humanitarian and politic necessity of straightway 
recognising the South, and thereby settling the question of 
its becoming a nation, at once and for ever. I do not antici- 
pate this step would produce war between the Federal and 
British Governments ; apart from its hazard with ourselves 
alone, such a war would have to be equally declared with 
France. But, if we are compelled to accept this alternative, 
I then maintain that we enter a fit, just, and even desirable 
war, substituting a cheap and advantageous encounter for a 
later far bloodier account ; that we contribute to the benefit 
of mankind in general ; and, finally, that we adhere to the 
first principle of national existence — self-interest. Not to 



7 



erect at whatsoever risk this bulwark for our safety, not to 
enter this prudent investment toward future peace, seems a 
dereliction of duty forming an unhappy climax to the flinch- 
ing policy in vogue. Even granting that the South, by its 
own energy, endurance, and strength, appears likely to 
achieve independence, is it right that the solution of a 
problem so material to this country's welfare should depend 
upon what is at best a favourable chance ? Moreover, is it 
politic, in the face of this prospect, to impregnate the early 
sensitive days of a young and powerful nation with feelings 
of umbrage, bitterness, and hatred? Already the alliance 
that spontaneously sprang to England we have diverted to 
France. On the other hand, if the unaided energies of the 
South miss developing a nation — for the North is strong, is 
"girded" to her task, and, it has been correctly remarked, 
while the South gains all the victories, the North reaps the 
substantial successes ; — if, then, the South be subdued by her 
enemy, and in the course of a few relentless years be ab- 
sorbed, I would ask what sort of a recovered Power the 
nations have then to face ? A vast threatening Democracy, 
wielding immense armies, laden with boundless naval re- 
source, and possessed of that fearful scourge entitled "a 
mission/' I would ask whether the antecedents of this 
prospective Power are such as to warrant any hope of for- 
bearance, of courtesy, or of peaceful companionship? 
Especially I would ask what they promise to England — 
what these antecedents have been even when the commercial 
element prevailed? And I would, in conclusion, ask what 
sort of combination (already sketched in the ardent trans- 
atlantic brain) would be formed by the alliance of this 
monstrous democracy with an irresponsible autocrat of 
Eussia ? 

These questions it behoves the present generation anxiously 
to consider. It is not sufficient to delegate them to the men 
of a past age, whose ideas are unable to realize a power more 
formidable than France, and whose sense of national greatness 
is therefore limited to an antique rivalry ; neither may they 
be — without inevitable retribution — indolently shelved. It is 
easy and apparently safe to watch the battle afar ; but when 
the awful responsibility of hushing it and securing its fruits to 
posterity as a legacy of weal or of woe rests with the spectator, 
continued contemplation may amount to a crime; certainly 
can only be excused by a constant exercise of judgment, by a 
scrupulous observation of every new or possible feature, and 
by a profound sense of the liability incurred by inaction. If 



8 



these essentials to the attitude England has assumed in the 
American crisis be now rigidly fulfilled, and there remains 
affirmation of her posture, I must regard myself as afflicted 
with some distorting idiosyncracy which renders me unable to 
view the interests of my own country in their proper light ; 
but in such case I seek to be dispossessed by common sense, 
by sound logic, and, indispensably, by a vital patriotism. It is 
in no party spirit that I address this letter, and with a com- 
plete indifference to the personal prospects of either American 
belligerent. Not without deep regard for the community of 
nations, I write primarily from an English point of view, 
rendered keen, I am inclined to think, by much foreign inter- 
course in a maritime way, and by an early appreciation of 
American naval resource, combined with a perfect knowledge 
of that of the French, as well as spared for many years the 
political atmosphere that clings to Pall-mall. I trust this view 
will not be depreciated because held by 

London, Nov. 9. AN ENGLISH SEAMAN. 

P.S. It may be as well to anticipate two forms of dissent 
my letter is likely to provoke. The case of the Trent will 
be adduced as exemplifying our readiness to vindicate the 
national honour when seriously molested by America ; and I 
shall be accused of mistaking American bluster for strength. 
I am quite aware the unlucky Trent business has supplied a 
new lease to our course of humility. But I would remark 
that England had no alternative on this occasion but that of 
the path she pursued. The affront was too glaring and too 
public to be meekly digested. In the same way, as there are 
men capable of pocketing an insult received in some deserted 
by-street or remote island, like San Juan, which in St. James's 
Street they would feel it incumbent to notice, so England was 
compelled to resent an outrage the notoriety of which forbade 
any compromise. The illustration may be unpleasant, but, 
alas, it is apt. The second allegation I meet by calling atten- 
tion to the curious reversion European ideas receive when 
applied to American affairs. We are accustomed here to 
associate gasconade with pusillanimity and insignificance. 
Apply this to America, and we find unsurpassed braggarts to 
be the most fervent, indefatigable fighters. Let Manassas, 
Fort Donnelson, Shiloh, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Murfrees- 
borough, Gettysburg, Ghancellorsville, and Chattanooga all 
attest this — battles rendering diminutive those we have been 
accustomed to wage in Europe. The phenomonon fairly 
realized, tnis objection must cease. 



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